In the spirit of the Rugby World Cup 2015, international property consultancy Knight Frank analysed the housing markets of the twenty teams competing for the Webb Ellis cup.

Knight Frank residential research analyst Kate Everett-Allen said they were interested to see who came out on top when it comes to house prices, affordability and home ownership rates.

The results are likely to come as little surprise to avid property and rugby fans alike.

Southern Hemisphere teams have dominated the tournament in previous years with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa together responsible for six of the seven tournament wins to date.

Everett-Allen said their analysis of the latest housing market indicators for the participating teams shows a similar trend.

“The Southern Hemisphere nations are also dominating when it comes to house price inflation.”

Knight Frank’s latest data shows that house prices in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa increased by 10.9%, 6.9% and 5.4% respectively year-on-year.

In comparison, the performance of house prices across Europe’s participating countries is weak - with the exception of Ireland (10.7%) and England (6.1%).

Rapid price appreciation in New Zealand and Australia means that, of the participating teams, the OECD ranks them as the least affordable housing markets.

Japan, the US and Ireland are among the most affordable markets.

Everett-Allen said that, with the All Blacks once again the favourites to win and also the current title holders, it’s worth noting no team has ever defended the title.

“England will be hoping that for once it pays to be mid-table in the bookies’ estimates in much the same way as it does with house price rankings.”

Of the RWC competing countries, New Zealand also holds the highest rank (5th) in the latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index. 

In this index, its closest competitors are Ireland in 6th place and Australia in 10th.